Jira is a project management tool that is designed to help teams track and manage their work, from planning and scheduling tasks to tracking progress and reporting on results. Whether you are working on a software development project, managing a marketing campaign, or tracking a team’s tasks, Jira is a powerful tool that can help you stay organized and on track. In our previous article we have discussed in detail on 10 best Jira Test management tools in 2023 and today we will be focussing on the issues which are commonly faced by users.
How Does Jira Work?
At its core, Jira is a platform for tracking and managing work. For instance, you create a project, and then you can create tasks within that project. Each task is represented by an issue that can be assigned to team members, have due dates and be linked to other issues. Furthermore, you can add comments and attach files to issues so everyone on the team can stay up to date on the latest developments.
Jira also includes a range of reporting and visualization tools that help you to keep track of progress. Thus, you can see how many tasks are completed, how many items are progressing, and how many are left to be done. Moreover, you can also view reports that show the status if individual tasks as well as the status of the entire project.
One of the biggest benefits of Jira is that it integrates with a wide range of tools and technologies, whether you are working with other project management tools, Version control systems, or development tools. Jira helps to connect with them, as explained by Intellipaat in his video explanation of Jira. Additionally, most users can tackle the challenges thrown by this software.
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Top Issues With Jira Software With Solutions
In this section, we will go through some major problems that some users may experience while using Jira. We have also added the fix that helps to overcome this problem.
Problem 1: Complex Workflows
It is one of the most common challenges that users face when they are working with Jira software. While project managers may love to take complete control of the projects, Jira makes it easy for them to do so. Users are required to fill in some fields and add some screens during validations between status changes. And in this way, they can create one of the most complex workflows not done before. The question that arises, however, is what happens to the end users?
Solution
As mentioned by Agile Sparks, every time you are creating a complex workflow, you can plan ahead. Furthermore, you can stop every few minutes and introspect how you, as a user, would feel if you were the one to pass this workflow for every issue that arises. Essentially, you can create simple workflows that require minimum effort from the end user. Moreover, you can compile the necessary fields into one big screen prior to the closing of the issue. The answer to your problem therefore lies in thinking and empathising with your end users. You will end up removing many fields that one may not require at all.
Problem 2: Too Many Views Lead To Confusion
Jira allows its users to view issues on multiple screens and platforms apart from add-ons that automatically allow more views for these issues. Therefore users can open and view an issue on full-screen or as a ticket with some details on a board. Additionally, one can view it on a quick view on their board as well as on a search query with defined fields. Team members may find it utterly confusing to have different views and miss valuable information if they happen to be working on a different view than their colleagues.
Solution
The fix to this confusion is to fit the quick view in such a way that it provides the much-needed details when working with a board. In this way, it will offer the best view for everyone’s needs, and all the team members will be able to work in board mode. Additionally, if that is beyond possible and working together in board mode is not sufficient for everyone, the project manager can make it a collaborated team decision as to which board the majority wants to work on and can take that into consideration.
Problem 3: Jira Has Limited Features
Many project managers feel that Jira, even though it simplifies the process of working on a project and seamlessly helps to deliver it on time, lack a lot of things. For instance, they may find that even though they are working on Jira, they have to keep coming back to Excel and other tools to make things work. In simple words, they are unable to do certain things on Jira while simply looking at it and trying to figure out how to get things done. Managers may feel a certain automation should have been integrated into Jira. However, the parent company Atlassian do not take that feedback.
Solution
Jira does not allow users to calculate velocity by team vacations or create mixed reports of story points along with time estimation. However, in most cases, users can get most things extracted out of Jira only if they know where to look. As mentioned before, one can view issues in many ways and find what you are looking for. Therefore, even if Jira cannot provide what users need, there could be add-ons for each of them.
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Problem 4: Page Loading Is Slow
Working with Jira software can make you feel as if the software is lagging behind. Over a period of time, users get frustrated with the extremely slow loading of pages and extracting queries. Additionally, the software slacks off when you need to perform editing, which can make you less likely to use Jira.
Solution
Tech experts believe that the reason behind the extremely slow loading time of Jira is the presence of multiple admin pages. Even the changes made uncontrollably contribute to this problem. What the makes, or project managers can essentially do is remove those privileges from team members who do not need them. However, they can choose to create an extended super-user if they absolutely need to give privileges to all their team members without making them admin.
Secondly, users can reduce add-ons which are not in use for a very long time. Such unnecessary add-ons can also increase the difficulty of the process when you want to request more add-ons that you may actually need. Moreover, experts at Agilesparks mention removing and uniting as many custom fields as you possibly can. You can follow the same process with all your workflows. More than eighty per cent of your project can utilise the same workflow and similar fields.
Now these are some of the disadvantages of Jira that we could not find a solution to yet. So let’s get started on them.
Problem 5: Difficulty in Setting up Jira
When setting up Jira software, first-time users can experience a steep learning curve. The multiple options for various configurations can be overwhelming for simple projects. It is especially for teams who are looking for something that just works right out of the box.
Problem 6: Blocks Channels of Communication
There is also a communication blocker where users get email notifications while tracking issues or projects. Now typically, that’s a good thing. However, the reason it is a problem is that there is no quick way to send messages directly from Jira. In this case, users are forced to send information through other means. That can be inconvenient, depending on your company’s current tools. There are integrations available with other communication and chat software that can solve this problem.
However, this inability to communicate from within the Jira environment may be a dealbreaker for some. Along with that, the suite of possible Jira products can be overwhelming, which includes Jira software for dev teams, Jira work management for business teams, and Jira service management for service management. Moreover, there is Opsgenie, Statuspage, Confluence, and Bitbucket, among others. That’s a lot to keep up, and some users may find it confusing and costly to build a complete suite of solutions.
Problem 7: Cannot Asses Risks and Cost
Finally, as a project management tool, it lacks features to manage costs or assess risks, which are features often needed in a complete project management experience.
Conclusion
Jira is a top choice for many teams and users, but even with its pros, it might not be the most suitable solution for every team and situation. To find out if Jira is still right for your company, then the best advice here is to go and try it for yourself.
